Seeing the back of the jade-robed man in the hall, that unexpected horror was truly like encountering wolves in the twelfth month. It turned out Father King’s so-called immortal was Lord Kaixuan, who had helped me acquire Xuanyue. He was still so courteous and refined, quiet as a maiden, and upon seeing visitors, regardless of who they were, he would first perform a complete round of polite bowing and nodding.
Though I found this rather troublesome to watch, firstly, politeness never offends, and secondly, it showed that our great Suozhao still commanded considerable respect—even immortals yielded to us by three parts. After the elders finished their courtesies, Father King called Second Sister and me forward, saying: “Lord Kaixuan, let me introduce you. This is my second daughter, Liuying.”
Second Sister clasped her hands together at her chest, bowed her head and bent her knees in a graceful curtsy. Second Sister was truly beautiful after coming of age—she didn’t even glance at Lord Kaixuan once, only lowered her brows and eyes, with vermillion lips slightly raised, yet Lord Kaixuan stared at her like a bookworm bewitched by a fairy, his previous elegant demeanor already cast to the ninth heaven.
Not until Father King prompted him did he somewhat awkwardly return the greeting: “Second Princess, what an honor, truly an honor.”
Looking at my second sister again, her eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings, not daring to look at him directly, only saying delicately: “Greetings to Lord Kaixuan.”
If there weren’t so many people present, she would probably wish to flee in shame, lean against the door, and look back, plucking a green plum to sniff.
I was thinking these two had taken a fancy to each other when I couldn’t help stealing a glance at Father King. Sure enough, his face also wore a smile of unclear meaning… This situation, how sickeningly sweet! I was already scorched outside and tender inside by the lightning exchanged in these three people’s eyes when I heard Father King continue: “This is my youngest daughter, Luowei.”
“Little Princess, what an honor.”
When speaking with me, Lord Kaixuan was much more normal, even quietly clearing his throat when others weren’t paying attention. He hadn’t forgotten the previous night’s events, but was honorable enough to keep my secret. This sister-in-law could be befriended.
After that, it was all adult business. Lord Kaixuan drank and chatted heartily with Father King and the Grand Priest, while Second Sister, as heir apparent, also sat to one side listening. But during this process, the meaningful glances she exchanged with Lord Kaixuan were countless. Each time they looked at each other, those tender feelings and lingering affection made Hanmo and me tremble below.
“This is truly like cooking a pig’s head with peppercorns—even the meat is numb and tingling.” I stretched out my arms and legs stiffly with a pale face, shaking my lips and limbs like a zombie. “If I ever fancy someone and act like them, I’ll commit suicide with a sword. Hanmo, remember not to stop me.”
“Good brothers for life. I’ll sharpen the blade for you to die quickly.”
“I already said we’re sisters. Why must a perfectly good girl insist on playing the man?”
Ignoring Hanmo’s protests, I looked at Second Sister again. Sigh, she was even playing with her sleeve corners now—Second Sister was seriously ill this time.
You couldn’t blame her for being hopeless. Since ancient times, we Suozhao clan had held an inexplicable yearning for immortals. But in our hearts, immortals should look more like the Grand Priest—thin bodies in loose robes, slender fingers stroking long beards. Though Lord Kaixuan was a several-hundred-year-old fellow, he looked the same age as Second Sister and had unexpectedly handsome features, so Second Sister’s attraction wasn’t so hard to understand.
Gradually, the adults’ conversation shifted from the immortal arts to politics. Hanmo and I quickly grew restless and had the palace ladies bring Xuanyue over to play.
Seeing a little tiger with wings, Hanmo naturally became excited with tiger-like enthusiasm. He lay on the ground, staring at Xuanyue and howling with Xuanyue. Hearing me call its name, he said suspiciously: “Xuanyue? This is a male tiger. Why give it such an effeminate name? Hey, Luowei, aren’t you a man…” His remaining words were blocked by ice shards I fired at him.
Inadvertently, Father King also noticed Xuanyue and smiled: “Wei’er, where did you get this tiger? It even has wings—interesting. Bring it over to see.”
I picked up Xuanyue and walked to Father King’s side. Just as I was about to hand it over, Xuanyue roared, showing two sharp tiger fangs at the Grand Priest, its claws flailing wildly, unleashing what it considered very intimidating killing intent. I petted its head, feeling it was rather pitiful, pondering for a long while whether I should untie its wings.
I saw it struggling to charge forward, its two bright black eyes focused on the tiger skin shoulder guard draped over the Grand Priest’s outer robe. That tiger skin had a crimson base with black stripes, brilliant colors, and glossy fur, looking like it might be the same species as Xuanyue. Could it be…
The Grand Priest also sensed Xuanyue’s fury and pointed to his shoulder: “Are you looking at this? Don’t worry, this has nothing to do with you.”
But Xuanyue was completely enraged, shrieking in its babyish voice, broke free from my embrace, flew into the air, jumped down to hang on the Grand Priest’s face, and desperately clawed more than ten bloody gashes on his face.
By the time it was caught and thrown to the ground by the Grand Priest, his face was already covered in black blood, looking like a ghost just crawled out of the eighteenth level of hell. The Grand Priest wiped his face, pointing at it with trembling fingers: “Outrageous, outrageous! Your Majesty, this demon tiger wants my life!”
However, everyone’s attention remained fixed on the Grand Priest’s face. Father King said: “Si Bo, your blood… why is it black?”
“Your Majesty doesn’t know—on the return journey, this subject was bitten by a poisonous spider and still hasn’t recovered…”
However, the more he explained, the angrier Xuanyue became. Like a little bee, it flapped its wings with pattering sounds, trying to fly up and attack the Grand Priest again, but its wings did not seem strong enough yet. After flapping twice, it fell to the ground again with a loud “slap.”
Even so, its spirit was full. It quickly rolled over, arched its back, raised all its soft fur, and never stopped its babyish roaring. Everyone was busy attending to the Grand Priest, and Father King waved his sleeve, telling me to get lost with the tiger cub.
I could only look apologetic as I carried Xuanyue out.
Fighting with it back to the sleeping quarters exhausted all my strength. God Cangying, this little tiger cub was just born not long ago, wasn’t it? How had it developed so robustly? Still a baby tiger yet already so fierce—when grown, wouldn’t it overturn rivers and stir seas? Continuing to raise it would truly be like carrying stones up a mountain. But thinking of it being lonely and pitiful at such a young age, I felt it was truly pitiable.
After returning, I was genuinely troubled for a while about whether to keep Xuanyue. And Xuanyue seemed quite proud, as if seeing through my thoughts, and slipped out when I wasn’t paying attention. I went out searching for it, frantically looking for nearly two hours.
Not until dusk, when blood dyed the evening clouds and flying catkins reflected the sunset, did I finally discover a row of miniature tiger paw prints beside a remote, empty hall. Following those paw prints, I quickly caught the dirty little tiger cub hiding in the grass.
“You’re truly troublesome!” I slapped its bottom hard twice. “Making trouble yourself, then not letting others scold you? Hurting others—do you know you’re wrong?”
Who knew it showed no remorse whatsoever, wagging its tail and sparring with me for a while, even trying to bite me. I was furious and wanted to flip it over for a beating when I heard a ghostly voice behind me: “This demon tiger probably cannot be kept.”
“Who’s there?” I turned to look.
This voice carried some echo, seemingly coming from the empty hall. I looked around anxiously but saw no one. Not until the curtains of the empty hall were lifted did a pale white face emerge from inside, looking like a dead person. I was so scared I nearly sat on the ground, but quickly realized it was the Grand Priest, patting my chest with lingering fear: “So it’s Grandpa Si Bo… Why say it can’t be kept?”
The Grand Priest said: “This demon tiger carries malevolent energy, eating people starting from the head. When grown, it will likely devour its master.”
Starting to gnaw from the head? I shuddered and said, “How does Grandpa Si Bo know this?”
“Because I’ve seen how its parents ate people.” The Grand Priest pointed to the tiger skin on his shoulder. “These two demon tigers were very fierce, eating many friends and family members of mine. Come, give it to me.”
Friends and family? The Grand Priest’s family was all in Suozhao; he only brought attendants on his journey. I hugged Xuanyue and stepped back, warily saying: “So Xuanyue’s parents were truly killed by you?”
The Grand Priest walked out of the empty hall, pressing closer step by step: “Little Princess, please hand over the demon tiger.”
“No, I won’t give it! You’ll kill it!”
I held Xuanyue tightly, wanting to protect it, but it suddenly flew up, diving toward the Grand Priest’s face and clawing apart that white facial skin with one swipe. The Grand Priest let out an inhuman shriek as large amounts of black blood flowed down, his body swaying unsteadily.
Then his eyeball fell to the ground, and a furry insect leg wriggled out.
I was scared into a little weakling by this scene, pointing at it and shivering: “Grandpa Si Bo, you… you you…”
“Give… it… to… me…”
The Grand Priest limped toward me, his voice completely distorted, raising an arm stiff as a wooden stick. Then the spider leg from before retracted into the eye socket, a pair of ghostly green insect eyes swayed in his eye holes, and another spider leg extended from his nostril, even lifting his upper lip as it crawled around.
It gradually gnawed open the Grand Priest’s head, revealing masses of black blood and spider webs. I was so scared I nearly wet myself, screaming at the top of my lungs with earth-shaking, ghost-crying sounds that nearly burst my eardrums. That spider seemed somewhat overwhelmed, too, hissing twice before jumping out of the Grand Priest’s skull and rapidly expanding into a giant spider.
Terrible—so the Grand Priest had long been hollowed out by this spider spirit, now only a skin remained, with the spider spirit wearing this skin like painted skin, causing havoc everywhere.
No, at this crucial moment, I couldn’t faint. How could I forget the spells learned in class—at least I’d been hunting with Father King before. I rolled over, tumbled to a low threshold, drew pool water to condense into several ice bullets, guided them into the sky shooting azure light, then pointed both hands at the spider spirit. Then the ice bullets shot toward the spider spirit!
I heard several crisp sounds as they shattered into ice fragments on the spider spirit’s head.
The spider spirit was unharmed, but its eyes filled with bloodshot veins as it shrieked “hiss,” its eight furry legs thick as tree trunks stepping on stone steps, crackling as they moved toward me.
I pulled back my arms, stood silent for a moment, then suddenly screamed “ahhhhh” as I leaped over the low threshold to escape.
Damn it, if only I’d had more time to practice the Water-Riding Heaven-Ascending technique, I’d already be 108,000 li away instead of being chased around by this disgusting thing!
“Father King, Royal Brother, it’s all your fault! Blaming me for secretly practicing the ascending technique, still blaming me! Blame me! When I get eaten, remember to kowtow and apologize at my grave!”
Running too fast, I kicked a stone slab and fell to the ground. Under the slanting sun, its massive shadow quickly covered me.
I hugged my head, thinking my life would end here, but discovered the shadow had stopped. Turning my head, I saw Xuanyue had clawed another gash on its head, showing off its little sharp baby teeth, continuing to provoke with its sticky soft voice: “Roaaaaar!”
“Xuanyue! You’re so amazing! So wonderful…”
Before I finished my encouraging words, the spider spirit had already spat out willow-fluff-like long silk, knocking Xuanyue down from the air and dragging it to its serrated jaws.
“Let go of Xuanyue!!” After speaking, I sprinted forward, condensing ice bullets again and charging at it!
Something miraculous happened. A heavenly net descended from above, with sun and moon radiance enveloping the spider spirit. The spider spirit seemed to have its legs broken, staggered a few steps, then prostrated on the ground. Only then did my ice bullets land on its head, shattering harmlessly. Then a man behind me shouted: “Break!”
Instantly, black blood splattered everywhere as the spider spirit was torn apart, exploding into pieces. Thick spider legs flew through the air, and that hideous head happened to land right in front of me. However, those green eyes hadn’t closed, and the head flew up by itself, opening its serrated jaws to bite me!
“Watch out!”
An arm blocked in front of me, the serrated teeth piercing straight through that arm, splattering sticky fresh blood all over my face. The man behind me groaned in pain. The spider spirit finally exhausted its last bit of strength, its eyes dimming. I turned back and discovered it was Lord Kaixuan. He breathed lightly: “That was close.”
“What should we do?” I looked at his arm helplessly. “Should we carry this furry head back?”
He was amused for a moment, pressed his index and middle fingers together, gathered light, and touched his shoulder once to stop the bleeding. Then he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and pulled out that long serrated tooth, pushing away the spider spirit’s head: “It’s nothing. I have an immortal body—it will heal in three days.”
Hearing this, Fu Chenzhi’s figure flashed through my mind.
But I didn’t think deeply about it, only pulled Xuanyue from the spider silk and helped Lord Kaixuan back together with it.
Half an hour later, the imperial physician bandaged our wounds methodically, explained how to care for the wounds over the next two days, then said: “This old man has never treated an immortal before. This injury probably needs another day of observation—I fear the spider spirit was poisonous. However, fortunately Lord Kaixuan has an extraordinary immortal body. If it were an ordinary person, this arm would probably be crippled.”
Father King’s face was full of worried clouds: “Sigh, how could this happen? Si Bo was already murdered, and now Kaixuan is seriously injured…”
General Marquis said, “Actually, recently, many citizens have reported that poisonous spiders are rampant in the city. Spiders favor the earth, while Suozhao belongs to water. Unless a leader approaches, they can hardly survive in Suozhao. This subject believes this thousand-year spider spirit was their leader, or one of their leaders. Today’s disaster—if not for Lord Kaixuan’s rescue, the Little Princess’s fate would be uncertain. Your Majesty, opening trade routes to the outside world indeed helps Suozhao prosper, but should you consider changing governance policies?”
“Your words coincide with my thoughts. I will consider this more carefully. Sigh, Si Bo was a minister of three dynasties, seven times seeking scriptures, with the world in his heart, never expecting his late integrity would not be preserved, dying at the hands of such filthy demons.” Father King waved his hand. “Issue the order—bury Grand Priest Si Bo with prime ministerial honors.”
After arranging the Grand Priest’s affairs, Father King said to Lord Kaixuan, “Lord Kaixuan, you saved my daughter’s life. This kindness is heavy as a mountain, gratitude deep to the bone. I, Yan Hua, know gratitude and repay kindness. If you have any requests, please speak freely—I will do my utmost to fulfill them.”
“To be honest, this humble one has been an immortal for a hundred years, with the four seas as home, thinking I long ago had no desires or demands. However, coming to Suozhao this time, there is one matter that weighs on my heart…” At this point, Lord Kaixuan looked extremely melancholy, a pitiful sight of one who had grown thin for his beloved.
Father King laughed: “Haha, I already guessed—you like Liuying. As long as she also has feelings for you, I will unite you two.”
Lord Kaixuan said joyfully, “Is this true?”
Father King said, “A ruler’s word is bond.”
Lord Kaixuan hesitated: “But isn’t the Second Princess the heir apparent? If she marries me…”
Father King came over and patted my head: “I’m not old yet. Look, I still have a younger daughter here.”
“Ah? Me?” I pointed at my nose, speaking incoherently. “That won’t work. How could I… no no, I only want to focus on assisting Second Sister, I don’t want to be king.”
Father King completely ignored me, saying to several palace attendants: “Go summon the Second Princess.”
You could see Lord Kaixuan truly liked my sister very much. Before Second Sister arrived, though he was discussing other topics with Father King, he remained restless and absent-minded throughout. My feelings were extremely complex. How had I become heir apparent overnight? If I ascended the throne in the future, I would be the first queen in Suozhao’s history. Should I be happy or depressed…
Later Second Sister came, and Father King didn’t immediately mention the marriage arrangement, only explained what had just happened. At this moment, apart from his poor complexion, Lord Kaixuan appeared fine. Second Sister sat beside him but was already heartbroken with grief, looking at his arm and silently shedding pearly tears. Lord Kaixuan glanced at Second Sister with such deeply affectionate eyes that I shivered again.
Sigh, they loved each other so much—if I broke up this couple, wouldn’t I be struck by heavenly lightning? Besides, Lord Kaixuan had saved my life. As the saying goes, not repaying kindness is unworthy of a lady! Queen, it is then quite majestic. I’ll be this queen!
However, beyond everyone’s expectations, when Father King proposed marrying Second Sister to Lord Kaixuan, Second Sister was stunned for a moment, then firmly said: “I won’t marry.”